USA > New York > Famous families of New York; historical and biographical sketches of families which in successive generations have been identified with the development of the nation, Vol. I > Part 10
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The oldest son, Hamilton, was one of the greatest men the State has produced. He was born in New York City in 1808 and died in 1893. He was graduated from Columbia Col- Hamilton lege in 1827, with the highest honors, and was ad- the Statesman mitted to the bar in 1830. His activity from this time on was phenomenal. He was a successful lawyer, business man, states- man, and diplomat. He served as a Congressman, Lieutenant- Governor and Governor of the State, and United States Senator. When the Civil War broke out he was one of the first to champion the cause of the Union. He was Chairman of the Union Defence Committee from 1861 to 1865. In 1869, he was appointed United States Secretary of State, which post he held during both terms of Grant's Administration. He negotiated the great treaty with Great Britain which brought about the arbitration of the Alabama and Newfoundland fisheries claims. He effected a settlement of the Virginius case with Spain, and procured an excellent extradi- tion treaty with Great Britain. To him it is due that the inde- pendence of Cuba was not recognized in 1869, and that this country was then kept out of a war with Spain. He was the first statesman to extend the Monroe Doctrine to Hawaii, and is said to have been the first to predict its ultimate absorption by the United States. So quiet and unostentatious was he in respect to his public work that much that he did was allowed to pass
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unnoticed at the time. How many veterans of the Civil War are there who know that he was one of the first to bring about the exchange of prisoners between the North and the South ? There was opposition to the project, the opponents declaring, and with considerable justice, that we could afford to let Unionists languish in the South while we had an equal number of Southerners in the Northern military prisons, and that as the North was twice as numerous as the South in population, it could crush the latter by the gradual capture of soldiers in successive campaigns. Mr. Fish and Bishop Ames took the high ground of humanity, and were strongly backed by President Lincoln. The exchanges were effected, and the returned prisoners quickly proved that the action had been a benefit to the republic. These negotiations were put through by a commission, of which Mr. Fish and Bishop Ames were the two delegates.
The power of Secretary Fish's personality was well shown by a statement of President Grant : "The men, or I may say friends, on whose judgment 1 relied with utmost confidence were, first and above all, Hamilton Fish, Senator Edmunds of Vermont, Mr. Bout- well of Massachusetts, and Admiral Ammen of the navy. 1 had a multitude of other friends of whose friendship I was proud and rejoice, but when people speak of those whose counsels 1 sought and accepted, they were those four men whom I have mentioned, and, above all, Hamilton Fish." It is pleasant to note that Secre- tary Fish was the first Cabinet officer who advocated the applica- tion of the civil-service system to the consular appointments of the President. He laid the corner-stone, but the politicians have prevented any further action since his period. His intention was to have a body of educated and trained officials similar to those employed by Great Britain and Germany. He objected strongly to sending consuls to France who could not speak French, to China who were utterly ignorant of Oriental civilization, and to civilized cities men whose manners and education unfitted them for the court and drawing-room. His inexhaustible vitality is well exemplified by the number of prominent offices in public and private life he filled with marked credit. For thirty-nine
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years he was President-General of the Society of the Cincinnati, and six years its Vice-President-General. He was a trustee of Columbia College for fifty-three years, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for thirty-four years. He held such other high offices as the Presidency of the New York Historical Society, trusteeship of the Lenox Library, Astor Library, and Peabody Educational Fund, and Presidency of the Union League Club.
Secretary Fish married Miss Julia Kean in 1836; they had eight children, five daughters and three sons. The oldest daugh- ter, Sarah, married Sidney Webster; the second, Elizabeth Stuy- vesant, Frederick S. G. d'Hauteville; the third, Julia Kean, Colonel Samuel N. Benjamin, U. S. A .; the fourth, Susan Le Roy, Wil- liam E. Rogers; and the fifth, Edith, Oliver Northcote. Of the three sons, Nicholas, the oldest, was born in 1846. Nicholas II. He is a graduate of Columbia College, Dane Law
School, and Harvard University. His life has been devoted to diplomacy, law, and banking. He served as Assistant Secretary, and afterward Secretary, of the United States Legation at Berlin, Chargé d'Affaires to Switzerland, and as United States Minister to Belgium. He married Miss Clemence S. Bryce, and had one son and one daughter. The former, Hamilton III.,
was one of the first to fall in Cuba during the late war Hamilton III. with Spain. The young soldier showed the same reckless daring as his great grandfather in the Revolution. Nicholas Fish is Vice-President of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. The second son, Hamilton Fish II., born 1849, is a graduate of Columbia College (1869), and of the Law School Hamilton II. (1873). He served his father, while the latter was Secretary of State, as private secretary from 1869 to 1871. He was Speaker and member of the New York Assembly (1874-1876), and a mem- ber of the New York Aqueduct Commission (1886-1888). He married Miss Emily N. Mann, by whom he had five children, among them Hamilton Fish IV. The third son of Stuyvesant Hamilton Fish I., Stuyvesant, was born in 1851. He is a graduate of Columbia College of the class of 1871. The same year he was graduated he entered the service of the Illinois
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Central Railroad, of which he became President. He is a promi- nent officer in several important railroad, insurance, and financial institutions. He married Miss Marion G. Anthon, by whom he had three children - a daughter, Marion Anthon, and two sons, Stuyvesant II. and Sidney Webster.
The keynote of the record of the Fish family is patriotism. All who have attained distinction have won and enjoyed posi- tions of public trust. Before the Revolution, when the country was small and opportunities few, they were magistrates and village trustees. With the birth of the nation they rose to higher but similar responsibilities. In the many offices they have held they have been marked by a conscientious and even punctilious sense of duty. They inherit powerful physiques, and are able to do more work than men with poorer and weaker frames. This physical superiority has marked their race for at least two centuries, and may be connected with the success which nearly all of them have attained in life.
Gardiner
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SENOH HOMEM YSnibTED EstDlaI z'ToHibYDD
Gardiner Manor House Gardiner's Island
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XIV
GARDINER
N the seventeenth century, the Indian tribes of New England seem to have been more belligerent than those of the Middle States. The annals of the Pilgrims and Puritans are a long list of skirmishes and battles with the red men, while those of the Knickerbock- ers contain but very few. It may be that the gentle and peaceful Dutchmen were better adapted to deal with the aborigines than were the hot-blooded and impulsive dissenters of England and Wales.
The story of the pioneers of the Eastern States is full of fight- ing and bloodshed. These marked the career of Lion Gardiner the first Lord of the Manor of Gardiner's Island, N. Y., Lion the and the founder of the Gardiner family in America. He Founder was born in England in 1599, and received a more than ordinary education. As he grew up, he manifested independence of thought, and even in his early youth was a dissenter and a friend of the Puritans. He was brave and ambitious. Shortly after coming of age, he volunteered and joined the English army in Holland. This body of men garrisoned several towns and were called upon to perform all kinds of military duty.
Here young Gardiner is referred to in the ancient records as IO
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"An Engineer and Master of Works of Fortification in the Leaguers of the Prince of Orange in the Low Countries." Even in those days this was a position of high importance, which necessitated professional skill and technical knowledge on the part of the occupant. He must have been a thorough master of his craft because, while in Holland, he was waited on by " certain eminent Puritans acting for a company of Lords and gentlemen in England, who approached him with an offer to go to New England and construct works of fortification and command them." He must have refused this offer at first, because the record states that the Committee finally secured him through the persuasion of the Rev. Hugh Peters, the Rev. John Davenport, and some other "well affected Englishmen of Rotterdam." The contract was a good one, judged by the standards of the time. He was to have a salary of one hundred pounds per annum for a term of four years, and himself and family were to receive transportation and sub- sistence to the place of destination. His work was to consist "only in the drawing, ordering, and making of a city, town, and forts of defence under the direction of John Winthrop, the Younger."
About this time, he married Mary Wilemson, daughter of Derike Wilemson of Woerdon, Holland. They arrived at Boston, Mass., in November, 1635. The bark in which he had crossed the sea needed repairs before proceeding to the Connecticut River, where a fort was to be constructed. Gardiner welcomed the delay, as it gave him an opportunity to see the New World, of which he had heard so many strange stories. But the thrifty Yankees did not propose to lose the opportunity his presence offered. They set him to work fortifying their own neighbor- hood, completing one fort on Fort Hill which had been begun by Governor Winthrop and another at Salem. Gardiner finished the first, and then visited Salem to look over the topography of the place.
He returned in high dudgeon and told the Boston elders that the people of Salem were in far greater danger of starvation than of any "foreign, potent enemy," and recommended that they
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defer fortifications for the present and help the town make a livelihood. In the spring, he continued his journey and landed at the mouth of the Connecticut River. There he built the first fort in that part of the country. It was erected on a steep hill by the riverside, which was flanked by salt marshes and accessible only by a sandy beach from the mainland. The walls were made of square hewn timber, with palisade and ditch, and the nar- row isthmus was further protected by a second palisade. The stronghold was named Saybrooke from Lord Say and Lord Brooke.
The work was done under dangerous auspices. Near them were the Pequots, who could turn out seven hundred warriors upon the beating of the war-drum, and beyond the Pequots were the Narragansetts and Mohegans, even stronger tribes. Still further away were the Dutch of New Amsterdam, who laid claim to the territory, and who viewed the newcomers as trespassers, if not as rogues. From the first, there was trouble with the red man. In the trying ordeal which followed, Gardiner displayed courage, wisdom, and knowledge of human nature. Had things been left to his control, there would have been scarcely any trouble, but the Massachusetts Commissioners were hasty and at times ill-tem- pered. They misunderstood the Indians, and so angered them as to bring war upon the settlement. In the fighting which ensued, Gardiner proved worthy of his name of Lion. One day he was struck by more than twenty arrows, but his buff coat preserved him, only one inflicting injury. The Indians, seeing him fall covered with shafts, thought that he was dead, and three days afterwards, when they made a second attack, and he promptly appeared at the head of the defenders, they were astonished beyond bounds. He increased this effect by firing two great guns, which caused " a great hubbub among them."
That year Governor Vane wrote to Gardiner asking him to prescribe the best way to quell the Pequots. In his reply, Gardiner sent an Indian arrow that had killed one of his men, with the head sticking fast half through the man's rib bone. This arrow, rather than the letter, had the desired result. By return ship the Governor
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sent twenty stalwart men from Massachusetts Bay to reinforce the garrison. While many of the people favored the passive policy, Gardiner advocated carrying the war into Africa and attacking the Pequot stronghold at Mystic, beyond the Thames River. This plan was adopted by the colonists. A coalition was made between the settlers, the Narragansetts, and the Mohegans against the Pequots. Gardiner, Mason, and Underhill were placed in com- mand, and together the allies descended upon Mystic, where in one brief hour the warlike Pequots were nearly exterminated. Those who were not killed in the engagement were hunted down by the Narragansetts and Mohegans. That day witnessed the obliteration of one of the most formidable tribes that ever lived in New England.
This victory had far-reaching consequences. The destruction of the Pequot power left the tribal supremacy open, and the Narra- gansetts, who were now the strongest, promptly came forward and claimed the honor of sovereignty. They demanded tribute from every other tribe in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, and sent runners as far north as Vermont. Many of the tribes paid tribute, but the Montauks of Long Island declined. Wyandanch, their sachem, came to Saybrooke to make friends with the White Chief Gardiner, and to ask for his trade as well as his protection. His request was promptly granted. In 1639 Gardiner's contract came to an end by limitation. In the meantime, he had won the affection of Wyandanch, who secured for him Gardiner's Island, then known as Manchonac, and a formal con- veyance from Yovawan, the local sachem, and Aswaw, sachem, and wife. This deed is still in existence. According to tradition, the consideration paid for the island was one large black dog, one gun, a quantity of powder and shot, some rum, and a few Dutch blankets. The Captain moved over to his new estate, and there began the arduous task of improving the land. The same year (1639) he obtained a grant from the royal government creating his estate a manor and lordship. He took good care of his red neighbors, who manifested their gratitude by presenting him with various tracts of land. He obtained others by purchase, and before
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The Indian Deed of Gardiner's Island Reproduced from " Lion Gardiner and His Descendants," by Curtis C. Gardiner
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his death was the owner of an estate of noble size and fertility. He died at the age of sixty-four.
David [1636], Lion's only son, was educated in England, where he met and married Mistress Mary Leringman, widow, of West- minster. His was a busy life. Gardiner's Island was David the
mainly woody wilderness, and his possessions on the Second Lord mainland were scarcely better. By degrees, he converted the territory into a rich property, and added to it by purchasing various tracts on the eastern end of Long Island. He was public-spirited, and took a lively interest in the affairs of the time. In the struggle between Holland and England, he was a stanch advocate of the mother country, and was one of the resolute land-owners who made and held eastern Long Island as a part of the colony of Connecticut. It was his practice to attend the General Assembly of the latter province as the representative of the east-end towns of Southold and Easthampton. While serving in this capacity, he died, in 1689. Upon his tomb in New Haven is the following quaint epitaph:
"Here lyeth the body of Mr. David Gardiner of Gardiner's Island, deceased, July 10, 1689, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Well, sick, dead, in one hour's space. Engrave the remembrance of death on thy heart, when as thou doest see how quickly hours depart."
The leader of the third generation was John [1661], oldest son of David, and third proprietor of Gardiner's Island. His life was well summed up by one of his descendants in the John the early part of the 18th century, who said: "John was a Third Lord hearty, active, robust man; generous and upright; sober at home and jovial abroad, and swore sometimes; but always kept a chaplain on the island. He was a good farmer, and always made good improvements on the island; he made a great deal of money, although a high liver, and had a great deal to do for his four wives' connections; he gave them, for those times, large por- tions." His first wife was Mary King, by whom he had seven children; his second, Sarah Chandler, by whom he had two; his third and fourth, Elizabeth Allyn and Elizabeth Hedges, by whom he had no issue.
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John was the hero of many romantic stories in the 18th cen- tury on account of his having received a visit from the redoubtable Captain Kidd. Unfortunately for the romances, the facts were few and commonplace. In June, 1699, the freebooter, in his sloop San Antonio, arrived in the roadstead near Gardiner's Island. John, after waiting two days, called upon the vessel, and made the acquaintance of the pirate captain, who proved very civil and well-behaved. They transacted some business in which Kidd showed himself to be both courteous and generous, making presents to both Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner, and asking the former to take care of some goods and treasure until his return. Without Gardiner knowing it, Kidd buried considerable treasure upon the island. Those who have dreamed of the vast booty of the immortal pirate-craft, will be somewhat disappointed in know- ing that the treasure consisted of 1100 ounces of gold, 2000 ounces of silver, and 17 ounces of precious stones, and in value amounted to about thirty thousand dollars.
David [1691], oldest son of John, was the fourth Lord of the Manor. Of him the old record says: "David was much of a David the gentleman and a good farmer, and kept about 200 head Fourth Lord of cattle, 40 horses, and 3000 sheep; and was some- thing of a hunter, having killed in one year 365 wild ducks and 65 wild geese." He improved his estate in many particulars, brought farm laborers from Connecticut, and developed traffic between Southold and New Haven.
Captain Samuel [1695], brother of David, settled in Easthamp- ton, L. I., where for many years he was the chief citizen of the place. He married Elizabeth Coit, by whom he had two children. Captain Joseph [1697], a third son of John, settled in Groton, Capt. Joseph Conn., where he was a farmer, trader, and ship-owner,
and built up a large estate. He married Sara Grant, by whom he had six children.
In the fifth generation were several members of importance. Col. Abraham Colonel Abraham [1721], son of the fourth Lord of the
Manor, was a patriotic citizen and a shrewd business man. Though a patriot in convictions, he felt it his duty to remain
Here lyeth Buried y Body of His Excelcy JOHN GARDINER Third LORD of y ISLE of WIGHT He was Born April 1941661 and Departed ilus Life June 25"1738
Inscription on the Tomb of John Gardiner From a photograph
Here lies Interr'd the Remains of' DAVID GARDINER EsQ." of The lile-Wight Who Departed this Life July the 4th 17.51 In the Or year of his Age
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Inscription on the Tomb of David Gardiner From a photograph
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neutral during the Revolution, on account of his representing the Gardiner estate in which so many of his relatives, especially minor children, were vitally interested. His son, however, Dr. Nathaniel [1759], entered the Colonial army with Dr. Nathaniel his father's consent, and made the parental mansion the Patriot his headquarters. The Colonel married Mary Smith, by whom he had five children. His kinsmen, John, Jeremiah, Samuel, and John, Jr., of Easthampton, were staunch Revolutionists, and made the family name feared and respected by the British forces.
The fifth Lord of the Manor was John [1714]. He John the married, first, Elizabeth Mulford, and, second, Deborah Fifth Lord Lothrop Avery.
In the sixth generation were many members of eminence. David [1738], sixth Lord of the Manor, began to build the Manor house, but he died of consumption before it was David the finished. He married Jerusha Buel, by whom he had Sixth Lord two sons. John, his brother [1747], settled on Eaton's Neck, and was the founder of a powerful branch. He married Joanna Conk- ling, by whom he had nine children. Upon her death, he married, second, Rachel Gardiner, his cousin, and, third, Mistress Hannah Havens, a widow. He inherited a handsome fortune, and in- creased it largely by his own exertion.
Captain Abraham [1763] was the chief citizen of Easthampton of his time. Daniel Denison [1763], son of William, was a builder, lumberman, and contractor in central New York, where he was instrumental in the development of Ogdensburg, and in the founding of the lumber business in that part of the State. He married Eunice Otis, by whom he had six children.
Dr. John [1752] was the ablest of his period. At the breaking out of the Revolution he volunteered on the colonial side, where he became assistant surgeon. Captured by the British, he was imprisoned on the hospital ship Jersey at the Dr. John Wallabought, but owing to his extraordinary vitality he survived the horrors of that infamous prison. After the war, he began to practise his profession in Southold, and became celebrated for his skill throughout New York State. In difficult cases, he was called
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upon to go to distant points, and on several occasions to New York City, which was then two days' journey distant. He mar- ried, first, Abigail Worth, by whom he had six children: and, second, Margaret Moore, by whom he had two. Another talented
Howell son was Howell [1776], son of Jeremiah, who was an the Inventor inventor of great talent, making many improvements in the machinery used by the mills of his time. He settled in Green- field, N. Y., where he was Justice of the Peace for twenty years, and a member of the Assembly for three terms. He married, first, Elenor Groesbeck, and, second, Phoebe Weed. By his first wife, there were five children, and by his second, one.
The seventh generation brought forward many men of dis- tinction. John Lyon [1770], the seventh Lord of the Manor, was
John the graduated at Princeton (1789). He was essentially a Seventh Lord scholar and antiquarian, wrote many valuable mono- graphs upon historical and biographical subjects, and made a notable collection of ancient books, manuscripts, and relics of historic interest. He married Sarah Griswold, by whom he had five children.
David, his brother [1772], was graduated at Princeton (1789), and settled in Flushing, L. I., where he was prominent in public and church affairs. He was among the first to introduce the culture of Spanish merino sheep on Long Island. By his first wife, Julia Havens, he had three children ; by his second wife, Lydia Dann, he had no issue.
David, the lawyer [1784], son of Abram, was graduated from Yale (1804), studied law with Sylvanus Miller, and was admitted
David the to the New York bar in 1807. He settled in East-
Senator hampton, and, having amassed a fortune, gave up legal practice for literature and politics. He wrote much historical mat- ter of value, and served as State Senator from 1824 to 1828. He married Juliana McLachlan, by whom he had four children. His daughter Juliana married John Tyler, the President of the United States.
Samuel Smith [1789], brother of David the lawyer, was a lawyer and political leader. Among the offices he filled were the
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following : Secretary of the New York Constitutional Convention, 1821; Assemblyman, 1823-24; and Deputy Collector, Port of New York, 1825-28. He resided in New York City and at
his manor on Shelter Island. He was twice married, Samuel Smith first to Mary Catharine L'Hommedieu, by whom he had three children, and, second, to Susan Mott.
Baldwin [1791], son of John, was for many years a wealthy and influential merchant in New York City. He married Louise Leroy Veron, by whom he had nine children.
The Rev. John David [1781] was a famous Biblical scholar and pulpit orator in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was graduated from Yale (1804) and took sacred orders
(1811). He had congregations in New Jersey and New
Rev. John D.
York. His first wife was Frances Mulford, by whom he had three children, and his second, Mary L'Hommedieu, by whom he had eleven.
In the eighth generation, David Johnson [1804] was graduated from Yale [1824). He was the eighth proprietor of Gardiner's Island, and died unmarried and intestate (1829). This David J. the broke the entail, which had continued from the days Eighth Lord of Lion the Founder. John Griswold [1812], his brother, the ninth proprietor of the estate, was a scholarly and hospitable man, noted for his courtesy and benefactions. He died unmarried. Samuel Buell [1815], the third brother, became the tenth proprie- tor. Like the other two, he was scholarly, hospitable, and philanthropic. He married Mary Thompson of New York, by whom he had four children.
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